Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1887-07-08
CALEB BOSTWICK'S LUCK.

little man Tor so long lilaJ-ne ndu gro" "
quite accustomed To having things 90
more or less awry with him, ani he or
Ginarly accepted Fate, small spiteful-
ness quite as matter of course.
But this last misfortune seemed too
much for even Caleb Bostwick : admir-
able patience and forbearance.
For brief space he wavercd between
tears and profanity over his crowning
i'll fortune; then, at last, his manhood
asserted itself and he mildly swore. He
said: "Wel!, it's too dern'd bad. :"
1t was really too bad. For score of
long and weary years Caleb had risen
early and wrought late for the very
moderate stipend that he received week.
ly from the great commercial house
which had just failed-failed so com
pletely and thoroughly that there would
not be enough left to pay ten cents on
each dollar of its obligations.
1t was a terribly severe blow to Caleb.
He had grown from boyhood into a
man-now neither young or old-in the
uninterrupted enjoyment of his one bit
of unvarying good fortune, the little
pay envelope every Saturday night with
his weeks wages to take home to his
patient little wife and his four chubby
little boys.
1t had often been hard work to keep
the wolf from breaking in at the door,
and the five pairs of small shoes from
breaking out at the toes. Yet Caleb,
despite his trials, had been able to go
whistling merrily to the "store" of
mornings, and his wife could chirrup
CHEEKY song as she wiped the breakfast
dishes in the cozy kitchen that always
looked as if its face was newly washed.
There had been long weeks of whoOpng
cough, mumpS and measles, that had
kept the diminutive savings bank ac-
count from ever reaching three figures,
however. and there was but little to
stand between their humble happiness
and cruel want.
And now the snow was beginning TO
make its approach felt in the air, and
only that very mcrning the CHEEKY little
woman had said as she kissed him good
bye for the day: ''You good little Pop.
py, you must begin to get rich soon, or
else you'll have TO have some one die
and leave you new overcoat, and you
must bring home the money for the rent
tonight"
The new overcOat was a thing that he
also felt he ought to have, but the rent
was an imperative command that would
not be put off. And now the coat was
entirely out of the question, and the
savings bank account must dwinGle for
the landlords potent sake.
The failure of Bongs, Biggs IL Bun
combe, though not an overwhelming
calamity to him, was not his only mis-
fortune, for, as he turned from the closed
doors to which the Sherii's deputies
held the key, he discovered that the
small roll of money remaining over
from last weeks wages after The modest
weekly bills had been paid had in some
manner escaped from the
snug protection of his wastcoat pockets.
Possibly the suave and polite stranger
who apologized so gracefully for jost-
ling him at the ferry landing could have
told what become of the money. But
this was only surmisc. The fact itself
was beyond conjecture; the money was
gone. True, it was only a few paltry
one and two-dollar bills-only "aces
and deuces," as the defunct firms DASH
ing traveller, Harry Slimton, would have
said, but its. loss was more crushing TO
poor Caleb, coming upon the heels of
the other disaster, than the unsuccess-
ful opening OF the richest kind OF jack
pot would have been to the gay and
brilliant Harry, and Caleb remarked
(this time privately aud to the inner
self, "WelI, dash it all any way" But
" hatevcr there was of comfort and re-
lief in these 'scape valve emissions from
an over. charged heart, they did not fin
ish the curative solace Of resource or eX-
pedient. What to do was The immediate
problem. A week before Caleb's uucle
had said to him that if he, Caleb, could
lay his hands upon twelve or fifteen
hundred dollars there was Il chance for
him and the cash in the old gentleman's
factory, together with sure income of
more than double the wages the little
man had been receiving. What good.
however, was such an offer TO Caleb:
He was rs tar from having 81 500 as
from the moon.
Moodily he turned toward the bank to
draw the sum necessary to pay the rent,
and, passing ID, after tedious wait for
the doors to open, he saw the little ssy-
ings that stood between him and dire
distress shrink into still more alarming
insigniflcance.
He left the bank with heavy heart,
and, fearful lest he might become the
victim of cruel fortune, he kept the
limpsey little book, with its modest
fringes of ends Of bank notes, tightly
clasped in his hand. Turning the corner
of the nearest "short cut he found
himself among a lhrong of men, some
;,.arasta1 eon,o idI,, anrious all .ftan